Charging and prosecution decisions

Radley was struck from behind by a bus driver whilst he was stationary at a roundabout. Radley had cycled past the bus whilst it was stopped at a bus stop before reaching the roundabout. He was wearing a high visibility jacket at the time and it was daylight.

Radley suffered a broken collar bone, a minor head injury and trauma. He was off work for 25 days.

James was hit by a driver who suddenly turned left into a side road as James was cycling straight on. Before the incident James had been positioned in the cycle box at a set of traffic lights. When the lights turned green, James moved off. After a few metres, the driver overtook James and suddenly turned left, whilst shouting at him out of the window.

Tarsem, a father of five and a careful and experienced cyclist, was killed when he was hit by a four-axle tipper lorry as the driver turned a corner. The driver failed to see that Tarsem was cycling straight on.

Karl was competing in a time trial with 32 other cyclists when he was hit from behind by a lorry driver. He died as a result. While the driver claimed to have been dazzled by sunlight, he was in fact speeding – doing 56mph on a road where the limit for lorries is 50mph. The police investigation found that very few other drivers were hampered by the sun on that same stretch of road that day.

Tommy died from serious head injuries after he was hit from behind by a 19-year-old driver. The driver claimed he hadn’t seen Tommy because he had been blinded by the low setting sun. He had effectively driven blind for ten seconds covering 190 metres, yet he was charged with causing death by careless driving.

Bob was cycling along a narrow country road with two other cyclists when an impatient lorry driver – who had been persistently revving his engine whilst behind the cyclists – overtook them and pushed Bob into the adjacent hedge when he had to suddenly pull in to allow an oncoming lorry to pass.

Father of two, James, was waiting on his bicycle at a set of traffic lights when a lorry positioned inside the advanced cyclists' box turned left across his path. James was dragged under the wheels of the lorry and had to be airlifted to hospital.